A Night Full of Surprises
by ANGSWIN
Summary: Part 1 of my "Sherlock's Rose" series...Molly Hooper has an unusual body show up at the morgue so she calls her friend, Rose Tyler of the Torchwood Institute, to investigate. An uninvited Sherlock Holmes shows up, as well... *Minor Roselock* ... This story is also compatible with Parts 1 & 2 of my "Torchwood Rose" series (but NOT Part 3!).


**A Night Full of Surprises**

"Tyler," Rose chose to answer her phone curtly in her professional _Torchwood Rose_ voice since she didn't know who was calling. She was in the field, so she was using her work-issued ear pod instead of her regular phone, and she couldn't see the number. However, it would have been difficult under any circumstances to check her caller ID while pinning down a struggling Tripurlian. Their extra set of appendages really got in the way when you were trying to cuff them!

"Oh! Hey, Molly. You have a what? Okay, okay, I will be there as soon as I can. Just let me get this get this finished up first. Thanks!" She continued working while she was talking, and soon handed over the now restrained troublemaker to her second-in-command, Jamie, to take back to Torchwood to process. "Be a good boy and cooperate," she said to the young Trippie in Galactic Standard (the most widely spoken language in the universe), "and we will try to get you on a ship and back home as soon as we can. If you can stop joyriding in stolen school buses, that is!" Then she left as quickly as she could after telling Jamie that she was heading out to the St. Bart's morgue to check on a possible Code Orange and that she would deal with the paperwork in the morning. He wished her luck, in his deep Scottish brogue, and told her to call him if she needed him.

* * *

On the way to the hospital, she thought about how she had met Molly Hooper about a year ago when the body of a relocated "visitor" had accidentally ended up in her morgue. Torchwood found out about the mix-up a little too late and Rose had arrived _after_ Molly had already started the autopsy. After the initial shock of finding out that the body had a four chambered stomach (similar to a cow's), Molly's natural medical curiosity prevailed. She asked the right questions and made some astute observations, so Rose decided that she would make a better ally with her memory of the encounter left intact. That was the beginning of their professional relationship, and after the next visit (involving off-world parasites), they became friends, as well. Besides seeing each other at the morgue whenever something strange showed up, Molly often joined Rose and her work friends at the pub or at one of their flats for movie/game night whenever their schedules allowed. She fit in very well – especially since they didn't have to hide their work from her. Molly also had some interesting friends of her own. Rose was completely surprised the first time that Molly had mentioned Sherlock. Molly had obviously been besotted with him for awhile, but it was unrequited, and Molly eventually moved on – even though they still worked together in the morgue occasionally. It was clear, though, that Molly's Sherlock was really _the_ Sherlock – the famous detective and the man who existed only as a fictional character back in her old universe. However, since Rose, herself, had traveled with an ancient alien through time and space before being trapped in a parallel universe, who was she to judge what should be considered impossible? She didn't tell Molly any of this, of course, but she was always interested in hearing about Sherlock and his adventures and had started reading John Watson's blog whenever it updated. She thought that both men were fascinating and they seemed to have lives very similar to hers, except with human criminals instead of alien ones. She hoped that she could meet them in person one day. In fact, she thought that it was probably inevitable that they would turn up at one of her field investigations eventually.

She noticed that is was already getting dark when she arrived at the hospital. It had been a long day and apparently it wasn't over, yet. She wondered idly what other surprises the night had in store for her. With this thought, she strode quickly to the morgue, simply waving to the guard on duty who knew her by sight. She looked down and suddenly realized that she was still in her field uniform: black vest top, black cargo pants, and black boots with her hair pulled back into its usual casual ponytail. That was probably a good thing, though, because who knew what she would find on Molly's table. It was sure to be messy, not matter what. It certainly wasn't like she was trying to impress anyone, she thought, as she passed by Molly's office. Since she wasn't in there, Rose went straight to the exam room.

"Okay, Molly, what weird slimy thing do you have for me tonight?" she exclaimed jovially as she strode through the swinging double doors. To her shock, however, Molly wasn't the one standing over the body on the table! As the man turned around to face her (surprise flashing briefly across his face before disappearing completely), Rose had to suppress her urge to sigh. Her first impression was of longish curly dark hair, light skin, sharp cheekbones, and penetrating eyes that seemed to subtly change color and were obviously assessing her while they looked at each other. Quite frankly, he was gorgeous! He was also definitely not supposed to be in this room at this time. However, since she also knew instantly who he was, she certainly wasn't surprised. Somehow, she was sure that he often ended up being in places where he shouldn't be. From all that she had heard and read, it was easy to see that the man lived for trouble. Well, she could certainly give him that! She smiled at the thought and walked forward. "Sherlock Holmes, I presume?" she asked, giving him a dazzling smile and offering her hand.

* * *

Sherlock was bored. He wasn't ready to shoot the wall, yet, but he needed to find something to do. He needed something different, something surprising! He was out of options, though, because John was still on his honeymoon, Mycroft had nothing for him (apparently the government was running smoothly for once), and Lestrade was ignoring him. Therefore, he decided to go to the morgue. He wondered if Molly had anything interesting on the slab there. At any rate, he needed to pick up a new brain to dissect. He had an experiment that he wanted to perform.

When he arrived at the morgue, Molly was in her office on the phone. Her back was turned towards him, but the door was open. Therefore, he stopped to listen. Most people would consider this to be rude, but it was modus operandi for him, really.

"Hi, Rose. It's Molly. Something weird just came in that you are going to want to see. I haven't poked around with it too much, but it's certainly nothing that I have seen before, so it should be right up your alley. Okay, I will be here. Bye!"

Sherlock thought that sounded intriguing. He didn't know who this Rose person was, but if something "weird" was "right up her alley" then it might be worthwhile to meet her. Wait a minute, he thought. Molly's tone had been very casual, as if she was speaking to a friend. He had heard Molly mention a friend named Rose before – something about their team winning a pub quiz or something? She must not be as interesting as the phone conversation implied, then, if pub quizzes were her leisure activities of choice. What a pity! He was going to see what was on that table, anyway, though, he thought as he headed for the door. Unfortunately, Molly caught him before he got there.

"You can't go in there, Sherlock," she said shaking her head, but not at all surprised to see him in the morgue this late. "I'm serious! Somebody is coming for that body soon. Why don't you head into the lab instead and see if there is a brain available in the cooler? You mentioned the other day that you needed one. Everyone else has already gone home for the evening, so you shouldn't be disturbed." Molly was pleasantly surprised when Sherlock didn't argue with her about it. Instead he just nodded and headed off in the direction of the empty lab where, through the large glass window, he could just barely see the door to Molly's office, as well as the one of the exam room. He could wait until she was distracted and then go in. It didn't take long. Soon, Molly received another call, and after glancing at the exam room door, turned, and walked down the corridor in the opposite direction on an unknown errand. Sherlock then made his move. He slipped into the exam room, and had just started examining the body, when he heard a bubbly, cheerful voice call out from behind him, "Okay, Molly, what weird slimy thing do you have for me tonight?" He spun around and quickly masked his surprised expression when he saw the woman standing there. His eyes roamed over her in a quick assessment:

Young – mid 20s

Dark blonde – slightly darker eyebrows – high end salon color

Eyes – deep brown – knowledgeable - observant

Lean and muscular – active lifestyle - fighter

Military style uniform – Special ops – highly trained – leader

Armed – unrecognized weapon – used only when necessary

Stance – casual – welcoming? – interested?

Mind – alert – assessing – amused? – admiring?

Attractive – single?

Sherlock shook his head at the surprising track that his thoughts were taking and watched in amazement as the young woman obviously assessed him, as well. He briefly wondered what her verdict would be, but certainly didn't expect the resulting smile and the welcoming hand. She had not introduced herself, but she must be Molly's Rose – and he grinned in surprise as he realized that he had obviously underestimated her!

* * *

Rose watched as Sherlock reacted to her. She couldn't really judge his emotional state or thoughts without touching him (Not that she would without his consent but, wow, that brought up some interesting thoughts that she had not had in awhile!) and really didn't know how he would acknowledge her after his assessment. Therefore, she was pleasantly surprised when he returned her smile with a fleeting flash of a grin, nodded with acknowledgement that she had identified him correctly, shook her hand, and said in a pleasantly accented baritone, "Nice to meet you, Miss ….?"

"Tyler, Rose Tyler," she answered with amusement, "but I assume that you already knew that."

He had not known her last name (even though it sounded familiar and he filed that information away for later) but he was not going to admit it, so he just nodded and slowly let go of her hand.

"Now, I would ask you what you are doing here, when you obviously shouldn't be," she continued cheerfully. "However, that answer is fairly obvious, as well. Sherlock Holmes is a curious man, and he won't rest until he figures out what is going on." She laughed and gestured at the body on the table, "Well, prepared to be surprised!" she said cryptically as Molly burst in flustered and upset that Sherlock had not listened to her.

"Rose, I am so sorry. I told him not to…" she started to explain.

"Don't worry about it, Molly, I don't blame you. In fact, I have a feeling that Mr. Holmes rarely does as he is told!" she replied, shooting an amused smile in his direction.

Sherlock felt a rare blush trying to rise to his cheeks. Rose Tyler certainly seemed to understand him, and if that wasn't unusual enough, seemed to like him anyway! What a surprise! He certainly wasn't bored, now, he thought as he turned back towards the body on the table.

"Well, now that we are all here, let's see what we have." Rose said, suddenly serious and professional, while donning the gloves and face protection that Molly passed to her. She gestured for Sherlock to do the same, and then all three of them leaned towards the body on the table. Rose noticed with dismay how heavy-set the body was and reluctantly reached up under the hairline to reveal a zipper-like device. "Shit!" she exclaimed emphatically, much to the surprise of both Molly and Sherlock. "It's a Slitheen."

Molly exhaled sharply as she turned towards Rose. "You mean the ones that you told me were from Rax..Raxa…"she stuttered - as Sherlock looked between the two of them and back to the body again – trying, and failing, to connect the dots.

"Raxacoricofallaptorious, yes – unfortunately," replied Rose, without the hint of amusement that usually accompanied the name. "I don't see an obvious cause of death, which is worrisome, so that means we are going to have to take him out of his skin suit. Then, I will call in my team." Looking back at Sherlock, she asked anxiously, "Are you sure that you are ready for this? Because after you see it, there is no going back."

Sherlock, still a bit startled by the phrase "skin suit," looked at the body again and then at Molly. He noticed that she seemed tense, but not scared. Therefore, he realized, surprised once more, that she knew and accepted what was happening here – and that this was not her first time in this type of situation. He then looked back to Rose. He searched her eyes for a moment, noting the real concern (for him!) there, and nodded, still holding her gaze. If Molly could handle it, then obviously so could he. He wondered about the relief that flashed briefly in Rose's eyes, as she nodded back, and then watched as she slowly pulled the forehead zipper open.

Sherlock never even blinked when he witnessed horrific murder scenes, but he thought that what happened next was one of the most disgusting things that he had ever seen. Rose finished opening the zipper, which almost completely encircled the body's head and then she started tugging the skin downwards. She motioned for Molly to help, and from opposite sides, they continued pulling down the skin with enough force to reveal the huge, green, almost gelatinous-type creature inside. It was practically bursting out of the loosened skin – like pus in an infected pimple. Sherlock was too stunned to even consider questioning Rose when she asked him to help finish pulling the skin off of the feet area where it was starting to bunch up, while she and Molly continued to tug on the sides. When they had finally pulled it completely off, Rose folded it neatly – skin, clothes, and all – and sealed it in a large evidence bag. She then walked back to the table where Molly was carefully examining the "new" body and looked over at Sherlock to see how he was taking his first introduction to extraterrestrial life. He had leaned against the counter with his eyes shut and the fingers of both of his hands steepled in front of his mouth. It was clear that he was trying to process what he had just experienced. Fortunately, as far as Rose could tell, he did not seem to be in distress or overly upset, just in deep thought. Therefore, she decided to give him a few more minutes by going to talk to Molly about the body. Rose returned to him shortly, but found that he still in the same position.

"Mr. Holmes?" she spoke quietly and reassuringly. "Sherlock?" she said again, placing her hand on his arm, when he didn't answer. "I need to know how you are doing before I call for a team from HQ." She continued to watch him with concern and, after another moment, he opened his eyes. She removed her hand and stepped back from him in order to watch his face as to better judge his reaction.

"I can see now why you called it a _skin suit_ ," he said carefully to show that he had accepted, at face value, what he had just witnessed. He had spent that entire time in his mind palace – his place of mental focus where he stored information that might be needed at another time. Even there, he could not find anything to confirm what he had seen, but he could not find anything to refute it, either. Therefore, he forced himself to consider the evidence on hand. First, the body was right in front of him. He had seen the "before" and had helped to remove the skin to display the "after." The skin was still right there in the room, undisturbed, in the bag. He had felt it with his own hands. Rose and Molly were both completely unfazed, which spoke about their experience in these matters. He didn't really know Rose well, yet, but she seemed very confident and capable. Also, he trusted Molly and her instincts (even with his life). Therefore, it all must be true. The thing on the table must be real, and not human!

Rose looked at him in surprise like she had expected more of an argument from him. He just shrugged. "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." He then blinked, astonished, when these words seemed to cause another dazzling tongue-touched smile to sweep across her face again.

"Fantastic!" she exclaimed. "Now, I know that you have questions and I will try to answer them all. Just let me call for a clean-up crew first." Then she surprised him even further by giving both him and Molly a quick hug before pulling out her phone and walking to the other side of the room. While she was talking, he looked up to see Molly looking in his direction. She smiled at him understandingly, and to his surprise, he found himself smiling back – still feeling the adrenaline from this newfound discovery (and that hug!).

Sooner than he expected, three men showed up pushing a hospital trolley. One was dressed in a similar way to Rose, but the other two were in hospital scrubs. They all greeted Rose respectfully, but the one in black, with the Scottish accent, showed a lot more familiarity than the other two. Sherlock watched their interaction carefully – Rose's partner, but not lover, he decided after a moment. He felt irrationally relieved about that. He then noted with surprise that all three of the men even greeted Molly by name, but completely ignored him. Things moved very quickly after that. Sherlock had removed himself to the edge of the room as to not attract undue attention, but where he could still observe what was happening. He watched as the two in hospital scrubs followed Rose's directions, carefully packed up the body and the skin suit, and then sterilized the room. He saw the one in black, whom Rose referred to as Jamie, send a questioning glance his way and leaned down to whisper something in her ear. He saw her shaking her head emphatically, and even though he couldn't hear what she said, it was definitely in the negative. The man with her just glanced at him again, shrugged, and walked out the door behind the other two.

"Well, that takes care of that!" Rose exclaimed as she turned around beaming at both Sherlock and Molly. "I'm starving! How about Thai?" Molly giggled and led the way into the office to get a takeout menu while Sherlock followed behind, bemused.

While they waited for their food, they all settled in comfortably around Molly's desk while Rose explained the events of the evening. "They are not really called Slitheen," she said. "We just use that as a nickname for them because it is easier than trying to say Raxacoricofallapatorians all of the time. Slitheen is just the surname of a particular family of them that I met once. Most of them are quite peaceful, but there are some rogues, like the Slitheen family, who were willing to destroy a whole planet for profit. The rogues tend to murder somebody, take their skin and identity, and live among humans trying to fulfill whatever crazy plan that they have. This one was obviously a rogue because that was a real human skin suit, instead of one of the synthetic ones that we provide for authorized visitors. Therefore, I reported it to HQ, so that the poor human could be identified and his family notified with a reasonable cover story. The rogue also needs to be reported to his native government, so that his identity, cause of death, and plan can be uncovered. The Raxacoricofallapatorians are very conscious of their universal image and reputation and are always quite helpful when it comes to these matters." She paused, letting them absorb this information while the food arrived and Molly fetched them some drinks from the machine down the hall.

"I think this counts as a business dinner," she said when the guard called the office to let them know that their food had arrived and the delivery guy was on his way down. She met him at the door, paid for the food, and gave him a generous tip (which he appreciated) and a wide smile (which made him blush). Sherlock watched all of this with interest and decided that Rose must have that effect on a lot of people. The three of them then divided up the food and started to eat. While they had their dinner, Rose continued her explanation. "The Slitheen aren't our only visitors from off-planet, of course. On any given day, there are thousands of universal visitors spread out all over the globe. Some are here on vacation, some work for us, and some are refugees. Most are peaceful, but we do occasionally get troublemakers. My organization serves as the first line of both welcome _and_ defense. Any questions, yet?"

Sherlock's mind was swirling with questions as he watched her and listened to her tell her story with such knowledge and enthusiasm that it was obviously a topic close to her heart. One question, in particular, stuck out as very important to him. The longer that he was with Rose, the more he wanted to know about her. Therefore, he leaned towards her and asked seriously, "Who are _you_?"

"I am Rose Tyler of the Torchwood Institute, field team leader and Inter-Species Relations department head," she replied with that brilliant smile, "also known to some as the Defender of the Earth." She gave a short laugh at this. "Any more questions?"

"Why are you telling _me_ this? How is Molly involved?" he asked the next set of questions that were weighing on his mind, while he continued to think about the answer that she had just given him.

"As you can imagine, planetary safety and universal harmony is a _very_ big deal. At Torchwood, we are all experts in our fields, but sometimes even the experts need help. It is very important for us to have intelligent and trustworthy people outside of Torchwood to let us know about anything "interesting" that we might not notice ourselves and to provide an extra set of eyes or hands as needed – to serve as unofficial consultants – if you will. That's what Molly did for us tonight. She has been consulting with us for about a year, and we are very grateful. We would not have known about this rogue, or several other incidents, otherwise. That makes all the difference in our work. Plus, she is a lot of fun!" Rose laughed and gave her friend a hug which was fondly returned.

Sherlock frowned suddenly and looked at them both a little suspiciously. "Is that what you want from me? Did Molly tell you that I was going to be here tonight?" he spat out in dismay while wondering if that was why Rose had been so friendly towards him, and completely forgetting about the fact that he had shown up unannounced.

"Believe it or not, Mr. Holmes, the world does not revolve around you," Rose answered pleasantly with a twinkle in her eye. Her obvious amusement managed to relieve him of his doubts. "Meeting you tonight was a surprise, a happy accident. Yes, Molly has mentioned you in the past and I won't lie and say that you don't intrigue me. I have read about your work and I think you and your partner are amazing. However, I did not set out to meet you. I just hoped that if we were ever thrown together in the course of an investigation, you would prove yourself capable of handling such a monumental twist in the reality of the world as you know it!"

Rose Tyler found him intriguing and amazing! That surprising thought was enough to make him smile again. He absently noted that he had smiled more tonight than he had in a very long time. He had to know though, "Did I? Did I prove myself?" he asked, almost desperate to have her answer in the positive. For some reason, he wanted her to continue to think highly of him.

"Well, I did convince Jamie earlier not to wipe your memories of the evening!" she said with a wink, but still seriously enough that he could tell that she was being completely honest. She then stood up. "It's been fun, you two, but I think that it is time to call it a night." She looked at the clock on the wall to emphasize her point. It really was getting late! She looked over at Molly. "Movie night tomorrow at Mickey and Martha's?" she asked. Molly nodded happily. "If aliens don't invade, that is!" Rose added, only half joking. She then walked over to Sherlock. "Until next time, Mr. Holmes," Rose said with a smile. "Call me if you need me," she added, stepping close to him, and tucking her business card into his jacket pocket.

"I look forward to it, Miss Tyler," Sherlock replied with a small smile of his own, "and please call me Sherlock." He watched that gorgeous smile bloom across her face again as she turned to walk out of the office, stopping at the door to give them both a cheeky wave before heading down the hall.

"What do you think of her?" Molly asked, watching him watching Rose.

"She certainly is… surprising!" he said honestly and then walked out the office himself.

He could barely remember how boring his day had been – especially since his night had been nothing but one surprise after another! He mused about aliens and Rose (and when he would see her again) all the way back to Baker Street – where he was already up the stairs and in his flat before he realized that he had forgotten to bring the brain from the lab home with him…


End file.
